Mahela advises Australians to retire to win; Others want a ban

When the Super Eight stage of the World Cup began, there were supposedly two minnows -- Ireland and Bangladesh, but when the showpiece event finally came to an end, Australia it seems have made all other cricket-playing nations look like 'minnows'.

The decimation of every opponent was so complete and domination in every match so brutal that the Australia left this World Cup, creating a wide gap between them and all other nations.

''To make the next world cup more interesting, ban Australia,'' was a jocular suggestion of an English journalist at the media centre after the World Cup final.

Any other solution? ''Get them to retire'' Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said in jest.

At the start of the World Cup, Vivian Richards wrote, ''Australia’s recent travails (before the Cup) have ensured that the other teams are not overwhelmed by their form, talent and consistency.'' Now with Australia not only going unbeaten but unchallenged too throughout the tournament, there are hardly any doubts left in anybody's mind.

''It is one team versus the rest of the world,'' said former West Indian great Michael Holding as Australia repeatedly proved in the past two months they were far too superior for the rest.

Such was their domination that the last four batsmen of Australia never faced a single ball in the whole tournament. None of the opposition saw the back of more than six batsmen as the top order played their natural game every time and one of the top three always came up with a big knock.

On the other hand, Australia only had to use their third power play six times in the 10 games they have played in the lead-up to the World Cup final.

Such has been the bowling strength of the World champions that Scotland, Bangladesh, Ireland and New Zealand were dismissed without the need for the third set of restrictions.

''Australia can be made largely responsible for making this World Cup the dullest one. It was thought that New Zeland and South Africa match would be offer tough contests, but it turned out to be the most one-sided,'' said Ian Botham, the former English great.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting could not stop smiling at the comment, ''We play natural aggressive cricket and we intimidate others by the way we play. The opposition simply cave in every time we play,'' Ponting added.

In the history of world cricket, only West Indies dominated the game in such a ruthless fashion for two decades between seventies and eighties, and now Australia is doing the same.

UNI MT SAM PM1634

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